Senior Planner in Wallace Montgomery's growing community planning practice.

I managed the five-person state planning unit that helps to strengthen existing communities through infrastructure planning, coordination and funding, as well as place-based economic development and community revitalization. Worked with local governments and other state, regional and federal agencies to facilitate the efficient and cost effective use of land and infrastructure investment within established communities and targeted growth areas, consistent with local governments' plans and in a way that reinforces prior public and private investments; enhances residents' access to jobs, shopping, services and amenities and businesses' access to employees and consumers; and contributes to a safe and healthy environment.Primary functions include:• Leading Planning's role in the Public School Construction Program, serving as the Secretary's Designee on Maryland's Interagency Commission on School Construction, and reviewing and facilitating approximately $300 million annually in capital investment in the state's public school facilities;• Leading and executing Planning's annual work program with the Maryland Department of Transportation;• Managing the Smart Growth Information Clearinghouse, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, generating news content, features and webinars for the smartgrowth.org website;• Leading project reviews for the Power Plant Research Program.

Owner and Principal Consultant of an innovative consulting firm focused on the nexus of planning and implementation:• Partnering with Vision Planning and Consulting (VPC) and other planning and engineering firms on Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service and other Federal planning initiatives, as well as land use and sustainability plans throughout the Mid-Atlantic.• Worked with a start-up organization, Job Creation Generation, to launch a pilot workforce development program for the Baltimore City YouthWorks program and the Southwest Partnership, designed to teach social entrepreneurship skills to students in the Hollins Market area of Baltimore City.

Senior member of a six-member planning team, a center of planning excellence supporting planning and sustainability initiatives for the global firm.• Worked with the Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies (JICMS), a consortium of universities, and the Government of the Virgin Islands, to lead the development of a marine research and education center at the Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, a unit of the National Park Service, in the USVI, from feasibility through design and the completion of a comprehensive fundraising plan and agreement. Coordinated the actions of more than 200 stakeholders during the five-year process.• Served as project manager and lead planner on the Access, Stewardship and Interpretive Opportunity Plan for Water Portions of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail in Maryland, for the State of Maryland and NPS. Study area included waterways associated with the War of 1812 in Maryland, DC and Virginia. The plan recommended more than $4 million in infrastructure improvements along the Patuxent, Patapsco, Potomac rivers as well as the Chesapeake Bay. Advised local partners on how to implement the plan.• Served as project manager and primary author of Cecil County's first comprehensive plan in 18 years. Led the plan process and guided a 37-member Citizens’ Oversight Committee with a range of disparate interests to consensus. Worked concurrently with the Town of Elkton to develop the town's comprehensive plan and integrate the two plans' growth recommendations. The Maryland Department of the Environment commended the plan's water resources element.• Served as lead planner for the Subregion 5 and 6 Master Plans, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County. Plans examined the county’s Rural Tier and agricultural preservation programs, zoning, water and sewer capacity as well as land use issues related to Base, Realignment and Closure (BRAC) at Joint Base Andrews.

Served in a variety of planning and project management roles at LDR International/HNTB at offices in Columbia, MD and the District of Columbia.• Researched best practices in transit-oriented development (TOD) zoning and the “right sizing” of urban growth boundaries (UGBs) and presented these findings at APA national conferences.• Served as project manager and lead planner on a project evaluating production, distribution and repair (PDR) facilities operated by the DC Government. Developed a facility program and site recommendations to make more efficient use of land and building space and operations. Led a team of planners and landscape architects who assessed more than 80 PDR sites and developed site plans at four key PDR locations in the District. • Served as project planner for the first major overhaul of DC’s Comprehensive Plan in 20 years. The revised plan provides policies, strategies and tools for guiding growth and redevelopment, urban design, the land use/transportation interface, affordable housing, neighborhood conservation, environmental quality and regional inter-dependencies.• Worked as project planner for several comprehensive and land use plans for counties and local jurisdictions in Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic.• Served as lead author of a transportation policy report addressing future state- and locally-funded road and transit facilities in Montgomery County, Maryland. Worked with a 35-person task force to write the report, which examined future land use patterns that would rebalance jobs and housing in some of the county’s corridors and sub-areas, including findings that later led to the construction of the Intercounty Connector (ICC). • Served as managing editor and lead author for the Oquirrh Institute's Enlibra Toolkit, a full-color document describing the Enlibra Principles developed by the Western Governors’ Association. Researched and wrote case studies of how these principles have been, and can be, applied.

• Prepared amendments to zoning and other regulations. • Prepared reports examining existing regulations, gathered information on similar issues in other jurisdictions and reviewed legal considerations. • Facilitated input of public advisory groups and representatives of county agencies on these projects.• Presented findings to Planning Board and County Council.

• Covered education issues and school districts in and around Sheboygan, as well as general assignment stories, breaking news and feature writing.

• Created a community journalism beat covering neighborhoods, planning issues, social services, nonprofits and ethnic communities. Worked with Editor Jay Furst to host and organize a series of reader and community forums on Rochester's immigrant communities.• Wrote a series of stories on the effects of widening U.S. 52 around Rochester. Series named Best Local News Story by the Minnesota Newspaper Association.• Led a team of staff reporters who explored the effects of blighted housing in Rochester. Series received the George Hage Award for outstanding public affairs reporting from the University of Minnesota.

• Served as regional reporter responsible for covering breaking news, local government, schools and general assignments for three counties in northeast Indiana.

• Performed general assignment, police and county reporting of breaking news, crime and local government.• Led the Sentinel's Washington County bureau.